Friday, October 15, 2010

I'm afraid I'm still a little under the weather but I wanted to share this with you: I keep seeing ads for Schoolhouse Electric Co. I finally took a virtual trip to their store yesterday and was so impressed. Doug and I have renovated a number of Victorian houses in the past and one of the hardest things to find was stylish lighting that fit the era of the house but didn't make it look like a museum. I wish we had had access to this store then. Their stylish period lighting is fabulous and they have lots of options from different eras. They specialize in the traditional white glass, school house shade which they produce by hand in Oregon. You must check out their site - very inspiring!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Good morning! I know, you're not used to hearing from me first thing in the morning but I'm afraid I'm a little under the weather and spent yesterday tucked in bed trying to sleep off an impending cold. I feel a bit better this morning. I wanted to share something with you. I spent some of my day yesterday, with my laptop on the bed, zooming around the Scottish countryside. Now I know that most of you all ready use Google maps but up until recently their 'street view' feature was only available in major cities. Well not anymore! The picture below is a Google 'street view' of where I grew up in the tiny little town of Dollar, Clackmannanshire, Scotland. Up until recently there was only a very blurry, bird's eye view of Dollar available on Google maps but now - well I can practically walk up our front steps and peer into the windows of our front room! I had plenty of time on my hands yesterday so took a stroll around the old neighbourhood and then headed off to neigbouring villages - so fun! So if you haven't tried Google 'street view' in a while, thinking it was only for NY or london - you might want to try it again!

Oh, and our house is the 2nd house on the left with the dormer windows :-)

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

When I first saw these books I thought, what a good idea, cover your books in pretty wrapping paper - I love that idea! But I read on and realized that these are actually Readers Digest books. I've never seen Readers Digests look so pretty! (I'd still like to wrap all my books in pretty wrapping paper!)

A few things that caught my eye this weekend on Etsy . . . I'm always drawn to vintage curiosities especially anything with old type - or any inexplicable pieces like this hand that looks like it probably came from a vintage point of purchase display.

I did some sewing this weekend - a few alterations to last year's winter wardrobe - nothing very exciting, or fun, like these super cute stitching projects from Sublime Stitching. The patterns available are so fun - here are some of my faves . .

Fiona Richards | Cartolina Cards . . . . I have never considered myself a trend follower. The only things I follow are my instincts. Collecting and creating have taught me to trust the art that moves me and question the fads that don't. This blog reflects the diverse design influences behind my work and all the things I love.

Curiously unique iPhone cases!

cartolina for teneues

Cartolina iPhone apps!

Cartolina for TATTLY

Cartolina Notebooks

CARTOLINA POCKET MIRRORS

Cartolina Cards

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